Two For The Money
by Moi Fah
Summary: After being separated from the senshi during a teleport, Minako winds up in the Naruto world broke and hungry. She is offered a job as a tax collector and accepts. Honestly, could catching this Kakuzu guy really be that hard? AkatsukiSenshi
1. Vacation

_**Title: Two For The Money**_

_**Author: Moi Fah**_

_**Genre: Romance/ Adventure/ Humor/ General**_

_**Crossover: Sailor Moon and Naruto (pre-Akatsuki introduction)**_

_**Version: Anime and Manga (respectively)**_

_**Rating: T**_

**Pairings/Characters: Kakuzu/Minako, Hidan/Hotaru, Deidara/Makoto, Sasori/Setsuna, Kisame/Ami, Itachi/Rei (only if I can find a place for them to fit in so don't get your hopes up)**

* * *

**Chapter One: Vacation**

Minako Aino slammed her forehead tiredly into the wooden desk before her, her hair splaying out around her like a golden net. She was so tired that she just couldn't hold her head up any longer...this job was pure hell!

It was strange how all of this had happened. One day, she'd been bored out of mind sitting in a classroom in Juuban High, wanting nothing more than to be able to run outside, jump, maybe even smack around a few volleyballs. But no, she was stuck here until that infernal school bell chimed in her salvation. The rest of that day had been pretty boring as well, and when the senshi meeting came around, Minako certainly had the urge to ditch. Somehow, she managed to drag herself there, and vaguely listened to the conversations around her. When the senshi came to her, she passed up her turn to say anything. It wasn't until Setsuna's turn rolled around did things get interesting.

Setsuna was the wisest of all the senshi, so image the senshi's suprise when she suggested a vacation. The Usagi "twins" basically jumped for joy before the woman could even explain, but with the help of Rei, everything was quickly quiet once more. The grass-haired senshi explained that while what she spoke of was technically a vacation, it would take place in another dimension instead of on a beach or at an amusement park. A rally of groans were uttered by Usagi and Chibi-Usa, Minako almost following suit if she hadn't been so far off in her day dream. This 'vacation' most likely involved the senshi being transported to another dimension to help save it from destruction. Besides being the guardian of time, Setsuna also dealt with dimensional rifts and the like so the senshi were no strangers to these types of missions.

"I simply feel it would be the best for us to take some time off of our patrols. While we must always be ready to act on the behalf of the Queen and Crystal Tokyo here in this dimension, to ensure it's coming, there are always outside invaders to worry about as well."

Makoto's smile turned crooked, turning into a frown, "So what you're saying is that in some other dimension, you're feeling a rise of negative energy? And you want us to go and snuff it out before it becomes too great of a threat?"

Setsuna gave a mischievous smile, "Something like that." She slowly took a sip of tea from her cup.

"Setsuna, that's a mission, not a vacation. There's a world of difference between the two." came a voice from the floor next to Michiru. It was, of course, Haruka, who'd laid down in an attempt to get all the rest she could before they left. Michiru looked down at her lover in curiosity before mentally shrugging and returning her attention to the group. Usagi nodded seriously, "And then when the danger is all over, we have to immediately come back home! We never have time to try all those exquisite foods!"

Rei was quick to apprehend Usagi's silly remark with an ear pull, reminding the princess that food was not the reason for their journey. The two continued to bicker as Minako watched on, wondering just how loud the two of them planned to get. She didn't even feel like making a joke about the whole situation...maybe there was just something wrong with her personally? There was always that slim chance of hope that this time, things wouldn't be so bad. Maybe this trip would be over quickly? Or maybe, they'd make some good friends?

"Alright, that's enough," Setsuna interrupted, "We'll be leaving very shortly as it's best to put an end to this threat before it actually becomes. I'll give you all a few hours to prepare yourselves. We'll meet back here afterwards and teleport our way there."

That pretty much settled it for everybody, Minako recalled. Now why exactly did she recall this selection of words? It had been the last thing Setsuna had said to her. In light of the circumstances she was in, permanent senshi patrol for youma didn't sound terrible in the least right now. Maybe she could write a book about this one day, she wondered with her head still smashed against the desk. The summary would tell about how when the legendary senshi had begun their trek through the misty Time Gates, they'd had to perform a risky Sailor Teleport to save their lives when something went haywire during the dimension hop. And due to that risky Teleport, Minako had somehow become separated from the group and dropped off in some weird dimension. Who knows? Maybe, she actually was the lucky one and ended up in the right dimension and everyone else were the ones who were lost? A lot of comfort that was.

"Mina, you okay?" Minako quickly lifted her head, resisting the urge to call out the name of her lost friend by biting her tongue; the woman in question looked remarkly like Ami Mizuno, right down to the blue roots of her hair. The blond girl quickly shook her head in a positive manner with a smile, "You bet! I guess I must have just dozed off for a moment, but I promise I'll get right back to work." The short, blue-haired girl gave a sigh, smiling, "You don't have worry about me hounding you. I know things have been hard on you lately, so why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

Mina's face held confusion before it lit up with a smile, "Yuki-san, you are a life-saver!" she stressed, giving the Ami look-a-like a rib-crushing hug.

"You're welcome." the woman responded with a pat on the back of her new friend and worker.

Gathering her things together, Minako didn't waste a second of her time with leaving. Once outside, she couldn't help but turn around and look up at the monstrosity of the building. Located on the outskirts of a village called Konohagakure, the building was home to what some might call "debt-collectors." They did everything from managing people's finances to collecting the local taxes. Oh, and of course, a selected few were put up for the ever-dreaded field work. Minako hadn't received this 'privilege' yet, but from what she'd heard, the worker would be assigned to a client, track them down, and discover why said client had not being paying their taxes. Sometimes, this even involved a lengthy trip around and through the Hidden Villages. She supposed this was technically called being a 'bounty hunter', but in this strange dimension where the ninjutsu arts prevailed, that seemed too inappropriate.

Minako's sparkling blue eyes dissolved into an evil glare, and she flicked her tongue out at it before blowing a raspberry. Giggling to herself, she happily skipped away back towards the apartment in Konohagakure she was currently renting out. As to why she had even become associated with that horrible establishment was due to her lack of finances...obviously. Setsuna hadn't told them to bring any money or other accommodations, so what other choice did she have when Yuki appeared one day and offered her a job to save her life? The apartment had also been Yuki's doing as well...something about her "connections." It didn't matter to Minako though, as long as she had something over her head and food in her belly, then she would be satisfied. The void from the disappearance of her friends, however, was a bit harder to fill than her belly. Her skipping stopped immediately at thought and simply walked the rest of the way home. She traveled down unpaved roads, most lined with regular wooden fences to separate the properties. A handful of signs gave directions about where to go and where certain establishments were locating. It felt like only a short time had past yet she knew she could walk the path back to her apartment blind-folded.

Plopping her stuff down onto the apartment's floor, Mina made a b-line for her shower; maybe a nice hot shower would do her some good. She wasn't nodding off at work simply because it was boring, she'd also been having a hard time getting to sleep at night...it was weird not sleeping in her own bed back in her own room. True, this was her bed now but she still couldn't get used to it.

When she finished, the blond princess dried herself off, dressed for bed, and pounced right into it despite that it was barely after noon. Mina lay there, suddenly no longer tired from her exertions at the office, letting her mind wonder from topic to topic. How on Earth was she ever going to get home again? Were the rest of the senshi alive and well? What about Artemis? Where was he at?

It was a tiring process, almost as tiring as living in this century. Yep, just another annoyance to add to her list about this place. Mina had either landed in some time in the dark, dark ages or inside of her worst nightmare. They barely had televisions and computers for goodness sakes, and those she could live without! Luckily, indoor plumbing was on their list. Mina sighed and tossed in her bed once more until she landed on her stomach, burying her face into her semi-soft pillow. She hated her life right now...this turn of events was totally unfair. Moaning into the pillow, she smacked the empty space beside her on the bed.

Tragically, unknown to the poor blond princess, her coworkers back at the office were scheming up a plan most sinister.

"It's not fair she gets to leave early...what makes her so special?" one female asked with a snotty attitude, her typewriter laying cold as she rested her chin on her hand. One of the male workers turned to address her, "Don't you know? She's practically Yuki's pet! Yuki found her penniless in the streets, starving and all, and offered the chick a job." he explained, the remainder of the workers who had been listening were now crowding around into a little gossip group. Finally, someone stated what had been on all their minds, "Yuki's too nice."

"I disagree." one man announced, "Yuki's too nice...to _her_. Who knows why, but I have a hunch that something fishy is going down. What if she's going to a get a promotion or something? We have the seniority here!" the entire group nodded in agreement. "But what could we do to stop that? Get rid of her?" a ditzy sounding female piped in, probably saying the smartest thing she would ever say in her lifetime. A light bulb practically appeared over the ringleader male's head, "You know...that might not be too bad of an idea."

"We're not going to kill her, are we?" Kenichi had always had a soft spot for the girl.

"No, stupid. I'm not that eager to end my life in prison...or waste money on one of those ninja people." he laughed, "No, what we could do is send her away."

"How would we do that? Say it directly to her face?" the snarky female asked.

"Ha, not quite. I say, we send her out on fieldwork with the most hopeless client we can find. Kenichi, go and check the archives for the most hopeless case you can find." the ringleader ordered causing a sigh from Kenichi. He didn't want to do this to her, not when she was so sweet to everybody, but he just supposed that bad things happened to good people. And he dare not risk going against the entire office by bringing back anything less than what they wanted. Minako was doomed either way. The group of workers had made up their minds and they could not be dissuaded.

The archives room was unsurprisingly locked, but he had easily discovered the hiding place of the key not too long ago and helped himself inside. Kenichi quickly headed to back of the room, back to the row of black cabinets that were reserved for either the deceased who owed money (meaning that eventually, their living relatives would have to pay it off) or the really tough cases. Gulping, he absentmindedly reached into the first cabinet on the last row after pulling it out to its fullest. Once his hand landed on a file, he grabbed it, kicked the cabinet close, and made a run for it. The group was still waiting for him when he returned, and Kenichi angrily slammed the file onto the desk they'd mainly huddled around.

"Whoa Kenichi, you sure went all out on this one!" someone marveled. Kenichi didn't care to turn around and look at them...at this point, he was just too disgusted to do anything. A round of agreements went up then as various papers from inside the file were scattered for easier viewing access by the group members.

"Heh, well Kakuzu of Takigakure, I hope you can give this girl a run for her money, so to speak." Despite the lame nature of the joke, a round of laughter went up anyway.

* * *

_**This is probably the most boring pilot chapter I've ever written and the one with the most mistakes. However, I've been in love with this idea ever since I first thought it up about...hm...4 months ago? I know, another story...**_

_**Updated/Revised: 2/22/13**_


	2. The SetUp

**Chapter 2: The Set-Up**

Minako swallowed harshly, inevitably making a gulping sound as she did so. She was practically sweating bullets, hands raised in the air in surrender. How on Earth had she become surrounded by angry villagers with spears pointed straight at her? Curiosity apparently had killed the kitten, Minako thought dismally, trying to recount her actions earlier in the day. Maybe something would stick out in her mind...

* * *

Minako had bounced her way into a work. It was a wonder what a little bit of extra sleep could do for the mood and the complexion. Everyone else had seemed a little stiff this morning, and a little on the quiet side. Then again, they really were boring people most of the time, except for Yuki. Speaking of, Yuki had nearly plowed her over that morning trying to get back out the door.

"Yuki, what's up?" Mina questioned cheerfully but with genuine concern for the Ami-look-a-like.

"I'm sorry Mina, there's been an emergency at home." and that was the last Minako heard from Yuki that day. And had she known it would have been an even longer time before they would meet again, Minako might have given the woman a hug. Continuing onto her desk without another thought, she didn't give much thought to the newly appeared manilla envelope either. Settling herself in, Mina picked up the envelope and sliced it open, wondering what it possibly could be that Yuki had left for her.

Well, it was some kind of file, that was for sure. Apparently it was a really tough case, and the included picture of the client...Minako couldn't help but feel her stomach sink in dismay. The man's entire face was covered by some kind of mask that covered his entire face and head, save for a reasonably sized slit that showed his eyes. His eyes...ugh, they were creepy; green irides with red scleroses. The case centered around one guy called 'Kakuzu'. Apparently it was the last name anyone had ever heard him go by before he disappeared from the public's eye. Oh great, just what she needed and wanted..a dodger. It looked like the last place he'd lived at was in Takigakure, and that was a least a week away from here on foot. Minako could feel a groan coming on, but stopped and thought better of it. Yuki must have seen that she had potential to give her a job like this! And so do it she would.

Re-gathering up her things, as she took this as an incentive to skip out on work for the day, she couldn't help but wonder if what she heard was laughter as she skipped out the door. Well none of that matter now, Mina decided...not at spear-point it didn't anyways. Well, after heading back to her apartment, she'd found an old knapsack and packed up a few clothes and things that she would need...mostly underwear. She could always buy new clothes while out on the road had been her thought at the time.

Just to show how dedicated she was to this job, Minako had decided to leave right then and there, only she had no idea of where Takigakure was. Luckily, the landlord kept a map on the bottom floor and she'd made a quick and easy get-away with the thing when he wasn't lookinh. After that, she pretty much traveled for a straight week, camping outside and bathing wherever she could find clean water. She hated it...and she was still sore about it even now though it was the very least of her problems. At the time, she'd been more than happy to just have a bath.

Speaking of, when she finally neared Takigakure, she decided to stop for a quick rest. The map had been giving her nothing but hell. Yeah, sure, there was a waterfall here...but no village anywhere in sight. Knowing her luck, the village was probably wiped out years ago since no one had seen or heard from this Kakuzu guy in a couple of years. Just great...she'd camped outside for a week for nothing! Luckily, at that very moment, something shiny happened to catch her eyes. Being a female with a natural love for shiny things, namely jewelry, she quickly pin-pointed the shine to have been coming from...the very top of the waterfall? It had confused her at the time, but nonetheless determined her to find out just who was shining something in her eyes.

Running up to the side of the waterfall's rocky-lining, she discovered what she had thought to be simple rocks were actually strategically placed stepping stones and grabbing holds for climbing. Adjusting her bag, she calmly made her way up the side until she finally came to where the ladder-like climb branched off onto a craggy path. She wiped her brow and took a deep breath before going further...she must have been at least a 100 feet off the ground! How she'd even climbed all the way up there without flaking out was a mystery to her...as long as she didn't look down, she'd be fine. The craggy path on which she now tread was thin but sturdy, and at the very end there appeared to be an opening to a cave. Terrified at what might have been waiting for her, she'd quickly pulled off her bag and tied her armband around her thin arm. This armband was no ordinary piece of decoration...it meant that she was technically a government official and that if anyone should dare kill her, then they'd be setting the stage for another war. Besides, the bright red of the band went nice with her current outfit.

She had entered the cave warily, trying to make her resounding footsteps as quiet as possible. Obviously, the entirety of the inside of the cave was either wet or dripping water. There were also various pools of different shapes and sizes littered on the floor. It was a good thing that the pools were slightly illuminated too or else she surely would have mis-stepped and fallen in. Later she found out that the pools received their water from a giant lake, and the sun's ray were so powerful, they actually pierced all the way down to the bottom which gave the pools their colored appearance.

The cave wasn't particularly long, and since nothing bad had happened so far, she simply walked out the cave's exit without a thought. The white light that had confused her eyes had begun to dim as she exited, but that's also when she got a face full of spears.

"C-Come on guys, can't we talk?" she laughed nervously, "I mean, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal? I should think trespassing is no light matter, little girl. You may be an assassin sent for my life or something!" cried a voice from behind the spears, and Mina did her best to maneuver her head to see while keeping her body completely still. Eventually, the voice pushed its way through the crowd to reveal a young-looking man with long, brown hair...and he didn't look happy. "I demand to know who you are. State your business! This is an order from the leader of Takigakure."

"Uh, just so you know, I do happen to think a lot better when spears aren't in face." Mina tried to joke but the angry villagers were having none of it. "Shibuki-sama has asked you a question, stranger! Answer him now!" a particularly agitated one demanded, making a prodding motion with his spear.

"Okay, keep your shorts on! Here, look at my badge if you don't believe me. I'm just a simple tax collector trying to do my job, okay?"

"Tax collector? From where?" asked 'Shibuki-sama' in disbelief.

"Konoha." Mina replied simply. What was the big deal? Sure, Takigakure was relatively small but they still had to pay taxes like everyone else.

"Fair enough. I suppose we are close enough that they could have business here. Alright, then who have you come to collect from?" Shibuki motioned for the men to lower their spears, and the men complied without complaint. Shibuki prided himself on knowing every person in the village so if her story checked out, then he'd gladly take her to them.

"Let's see, how to say this...he doesn't have a last name but his first name is Kakuzu...I think." A large round of gasps went up and so did a flurry of whispered conversations.

"K-K-Kakuzu? You can't possibly mean...?" Wow, that was certainly an about-face, Mina noted. Where had the brave Mr. Leader of the Village disappeared to? All she could do was shrug her shoulders, "Well, you see, I'm not entirely sure what he looks like since the only picture I have is of him wearing a mask, but apparently, he's been missing from Takigakure for a little more than 5 years. You know him? Or better yet, you know where to find him?" Shibuki gave a heavy sigh, a slight tremble resounding throughout his features and shaking the protective armor on his shoulder with a clatter. "I was afraid you'd say that..." he groaned, "Follow me." he gestured, turning on his heel and leading her away to his house. The rest of the villagers quickly scurried off back to their homes to spread this new gossip.

"So...I have to ask. Just how did you know I was going to be walking through that cave, huh?" Minako still hadn't found the source of that shiny object from earlier. Still walking, Shibuki turned and stole a glance over his shoulder, "Oh, you mean earlier? Well, I was outside the village scoping the land for intruders...and my headband must have glinted off in the sunlight." he admitted ashamedly, a trained shinobi should have been able to avoid such a rookie mistake.

"Hmph," Mina grunted, scrunching up her features, "so in other words, you were spying on me. I was planning to take a bath down there, you know."

"Oh look, we're here! Please come inside and make yourself at home!" Shibuki had successfully dodged another bullet.

* * *

Mina yawned, her hand trying to suppress the action as she quietly slipped cat-like out of the window. Shibuki had offered her a chance to stay for the night since his explanation had gone well on into the evening. However, she didn't see any of this as a loss or waste of time. Shibuki actually had told her quite a good bit of things, of course, the most important of them being where she could find Kakuzu wasn't present. Then again, the guy had been missing for almost 5 years. 'So, let's see if I got this straight...' Mina tried to mentally recap as she slowly closed the first-story window and headed back for the cave; there was little light to see by as it was probably around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Apparently, all those years ago, Kakuzu had been a prominent Takigakure ninja and had been sent on an assassination mission to take out the first Hokage. Mina couldn't remember the guy's name for the life of her though. Anyhow, Kakuzu failed that mission and everyone in the village shunned him and imprisoned him for his failures.

"That seems kinda unfair..." Mina couldn't help but pipe in during Shibuki's explanation, "I mean, it was one lousy mission. So what? He could have just gone back and tried again. I mean, killing is awful but-"

"You must not be very familiar with the way shinobi work, Aino-san." Shibuki answered kindly, much differently than his tone when they had first met, "You see, a mission for a shinobi is everything and failure is never acceptable. There is no second chance when it comes to something like this. You see, not only had he marred his personal honor, he had also brought on dishonor on the entire village. And of course, Takigakure was a small village even back then, and with Konoha on our bad side, we weren't in the best of positions."

After that, Shibuki started back up again with his explanation. Eventually, Kakuzu escaped from his imprisonment but Shibuki failed to mention how. Apparently, no one was clear on how the man had escaped exactly, but then again, he was a very strong individual. That same day, he brutally slaughtered the elders of the village and stole their hearts.

"What?" Mina screeched, resisting the urge to puke, but unable to stop the gagging internally; a blue line of disgust slowly crawling its way over her features.

"I'm sorry to say, but its the truth. You see, after he broke out of confinement, Kakuzu happened to steal an ancient technique from our village called Earth Grudge Fear. Now what this technique actually does is not known by many and I personally am still a little unsure of what it can do. All we know for certain is that its made him an organ-snatcher and very powerful to boot. For every heart he steals with Earth Grudge Fear, the longer he is allowed to live. I don't mean to overload you with all this Aino-san, but I'm very glad to have informed you before you went chasing down a monster like that. We don't need anymore heartless corpses around here..." Shibuki shuddered, still able to remember the carnage from when he was younger. Luckily, his father had been away on negotiations with the Konoha elders and Hokage when the slaughter had happened and was spared. "Honestly," he started again when he noticed he'd forced the blond beauty into silence, "he's nothing short of a criminal and needs nothing but the ANBU or something going after him. What the heck were they thinking sending you out on a task like that? Well I guess intelligence hasn't been updated on him yet though he technically is a criminal. Listen, why don't you stay here at my house for the night, and we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning for Konoha. I'd be happy to escort you back there Aino-san, and that way I can update the Black Ops while I'm there as well."

Mina simply agreed with the man, not trying to take advantage of his kindness. It didn't matter what he said...she was going to do this job for Yuki! And not just for Yuki...she was going to prove to her long-lost Sailor Senshi that she could survive all on her own, and that wherever they were, they should be watching her with pride!

Now, the hard part would be climbing back down the fake wall and not plummeting to her death. It was definitely darker than when she'd first started climbing, and she didn't even want to think about riding the 100-something-foot waterfall all the way to the bottom. Since nothing breakable was inside her bag, she simply leaned over the side and dropped it to the floor below. Worst case scenario: her clothes would end up wet for a few hours. However, this made climbing down so much easier since she had a better idea of where to balance her weight at. Climbing down took what felt like hours but really couldn't have taken her more than 20 minutes. She gathered her things together, which some of them had fallen out thanks to the plummet, and found herself now standing at a crossroads.

Shibuki had no idea of where Kakuzu could be. She had no idea where he had gone either. He really could have been dead on the side of the road for all she knew. Oh wait, that was impossible...he was a 'Heartsnatcher'. Mina tried to make a joke of his abilities by referencing their old enemies to cheer her spirits up, but his powers still managed to creep her out nonetheless.

Minako looked to her left. From what the map in her hands read, if she headed to her left, then she'd end up in the relatively new village of Otogakure. He probably wouldn't be there. A small village would be too obvious a place to hide and too close to Takigakure for comfort. She looked straight ahead of her next. This way would lead her back to Konoha, and she couldn't go back there yet...not until she had every penny Kakuzu owed to the government in her pocket. To the right, there lay a lot of options. If she headed southwest, then she'd come to the small country of Kusagakure. And if she continued in that direction, she'd eventually end up in the desert land of Sunagakure. Eh, there probably weren't a lot of people living in the desert to steal hearts from, she decided. To her immediate right, lay Iwagakure. That seemed like a good place to hide if you ever needed one...plenty of rocky hideouts to throw off pursuers. But then again, that made it seem kinda obvious too. Ugh, all this reasoning was making her brain hurt. How she wished Ami was here right now, plinking away at the keys on her mini-computer, devising a thorough, fail-proof plan that would ultimately be mucked up by Usagi in one way or another. Maybe she was just over-thinking all this she decided.

"There's only one way to solve this." she announced firmly to herself. Closing her eyes tightly, she clapped one of her hands over both her eyes and used her other hand to stick out a pointed finger. "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe!" she chorused childishly as she quickly spun round and round in a circle, "...my mom told me to pick the very best way and you are it today!" Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea since the forest that surrounded the waterfall kinda looked the same at night. "Well, I already picked this way," she mumbled, index finger still suspended in mid-air, "I guess we'll find out where it leads me."

* * *

Kakuzu breathed heavily, near to the point of growling when he breathed thanks to his dry throat. How long had been since he left that place? Lately he begun to wonder as he wandered aimlessly from town to town, picking up bounties whenever and wherever he could. He wasn't quite sure what made of him think of the place...maybe his body was just ready to find some place to lay down and die.

He wiped his forehead by reaching underneath his mask. The mask he wore...he carried it for different reasons, but the main reason was to hide Earth Grudge Fear. Not that anyone would especially know what his village's secret technique looked like, but he couldn't risk being found now...without a clean source of food or water while being pursued. Damn, it was an extremely hot day and the smell of smoke was still in the air. He'd recently come to pass by a burning village. Ransacked and pillaged by some unknown source, but he didn't have time to hang around and find out who. He couldn't risk survivors of the destruction finding out who he was if there were any. Whoever had done the job didn't pull any punches. He was almost impressed.

Luckily, the further he continued on this path, the cooler it was sure to be. He'd concocted this plan a few days back with Ginji, one of the only people he'd come to respect and that meant he was also the only other person allowed to touch Kakuzu's money. They had heard a pretty big bounty was going out for the head of a _daimyo_ in Kirigakure. Unfortunately, the only way for him to get there would be to head through Konoha and use one of their ports. Of course, that was out of the question as he would be certainly recognized, even after all these years. Instead, he had started his journey inbetween Sunagakure and Konoha in the Land of Rivers, and had been trailing Konoha's border since. Just a little longer, his mind told him, and he'd reach the new hidden village of Otogakure. Funny how a village had suddenly sprung up out of nowhere like that. However, because they were so small, they were more than likely still neutral and he could pass through on his way to Kirigakure.

* * *

"Well, this is border-crossing if I've ever seen it..." Minako whispered to herself, map in hand as she looked warily around. As she kept walking in the same direction, the sun eventually came out for the day, and the forests around her began to give away to numerous steep peaks. "Maybe this is...Iwagakure?" she questioned no one but herself. Even with her map, she still had no idea exactly which way she was traveling, but hopefully she'd find a village of some sorts or some other traveler on the road who could tell her where she was.

All of a sudden, she found herself coming to a stop in the middle of the road. Ever since the sun had come out hours ago, the day had been nothing but hot and muggy, and she of course was not exempt from the heat. Taking off the jean jacket she wore, she tied it around her waist because there was no room left in her bag. As she did so, a certain sound reached her ears over the light sound of still-present cicadas. It sounded like the wheels of a cart, and sure enough, coming in the direction in which she had just traveled was an old man pulling said cart.

"Sir, excuse me!" she quickly bounced over to him, map still in her hands, "Sorry to ask you, but you could you point out to me on this map where I am. You see, I think I'm lost."

"Well, that's certainly not a good thing to be when you're traveling alone." he remarked, adjusting the brim of his straw hat over his wrinkled brow. "Lemme see here..." he trailed off before finally finding what he wanted and poked a finger into the parchment. "You're right here. This is the Land of Fangs, where the Village Hidden in Hot Water is located. I have business there myself, so if you'll excuse me..." he tipped the brim of his hat in salute this time and carried on his way leaving Mina still there in the middle of the road in confusion.

"Village...Hidden in Hot Water? Yugakure?" How on Earth had she never heard of this place? Well, it must have been a relatively small village if it wasn't marked on her map, she decided, rolling the parchment back up and placing the scroll back into her jacket pocket. "Yugakure, huh?" The name sounded pretty funny in English, she had to admit, but when she thought about exactly what Hot Water could do to your skin, she didn't quite find it as funny as before. Hm, now that she thought it, this Yugakure seemed like a good place to look for that Kakuzu guy. Born in Takigakure, maybe he would naturally flock to another water country or village. The Land of Fangs appeared to be a bit of a wasteland with nothing but the steep peaks she'd mentioned earlier, but if that was true and given the name of the Hidden Village, then more than likely there was a hot springs nearby. Minako smiled to herself, she did deserve a little rest and relaxation after having slept outside for a week.

Speaking of sleep, she'd hadn't gotten a full night's worth of sleep thanks to Shibuki's explanation and her early-morning escape. With a little luck, she wouldn't have Takigakure ninja on her tail trying to bring her back. That certainly sounded like something that Shibuki was capable of doing. She quickly moved out of the middle of the road and hid herself from other travelers on the road behind a huge boulder. Luckily, there were plenty of these around too. Using her backpack as a pillow, Minako planned to take a quick cat nap. After all, she still didn't know where to find Kakuzu...there was no sense in rushing she decided.

"Hm, somebody must be barbecuing something..." Mina whispered to herself, rolling over onto her side once she caught of whiff of smoke. Thinking about ii made her stomach growl...she could really go for some barbecue right now...so much so that she was willing to sacrifice sleep. Grabbing her things up, she rushed back onto the road and followed in the footsteps of the old farmer from earlier. "Sweet deliciousness, here I come!" she happily announced, practically barreling the road. She almost felt like crying because she suddenly realized that Usagi wasn't here to share in her joy of food.

"That must be it!" she announced aloud, trying to raise her morale, but the blond's face quickly sunk when she found out where the source of smoke appeared to be coming from. "What the...? What happened here?" She simply couldn't find the words to say. What stood before her was a burning, blackened village. Blood was splattered everywhere, and various bodies lay strewn about the ground. Any building that was still standing was smoking and blackened from the inside out. What she caught sight of next made her heart sink. It was that old man's cart. "Ojii-san? Hey, where are you? What happened here? Are you alright?" Walking around a little more, she happened to catch his lifeless body laying behind the cart.

Out of disregard for her own safety, Minako began to cry. It was a pretty useless thing to do at a time like this, as there might have been other survivors, but...who had done such a terrible thing? Wiping her eyes, she quickly pulled her hands together and said a short prayer for the man before getting back on her feet and continuing into the village. At the very end of the village, there appeared to be a shrine. Surely whoever had attacked this place had left this sanctuary alone?

Climbing up the stone steps, which had probably been a gray color earlier but were now stained red with blood, she happened upon the bodies of a few dead priests. Still clad in their robes and rosary in their hands, it looked as if they had been cut down while in the middle of prayer. Continuing on into the shrine, not caring if the blood on her shoes were staining the floor of the shrine, she found it to be nothing but a small room with a sacred flame altar. It reminded her of Rei briefly.

The sacred flame altar had been aglow only a few hours ago as the embers were still fresh and hot. Whoever had attacked the village must have also tried to destroy the stone altar with some kind of weapon as there were scratches all over it. This was strange...Mina remarked silently to herself. There was a certain part of the shrine where no blood had been split. It was right behind the sacred flame altar, in between the wall and a wooden scroll. The scroll didn't seem important at first until she realized just whose eyes were staring back at her. "Hotaru-chan?" she whispered, touching the scroll as if it would allow her to see better. Although only an ink drawing, the girl had dark hair and big, bright eyes. Her hair was a little longer than what the normal Hotaru would wear, but Mina still had to admit that it was strange coincidence. Bending down, as something had caught her eye, she found herself picking up what looked like a belt for the priest and priestess's robes. There had to have been a struggle in here, she decided, tucking the belt away into her jacket pocket right next to the map.

"Whoever was here, they're still alive..." And she would find them if it was the last thing she did. She was a Sailor Senshi, it was her job to protect people. Kakuzu be damned for now. If there was a helpless cleric out there that needed her help, she'd find them before the day was out. Minako tore out of the town, not wary that the attacker might have still been lurking about. She figured she'd turn left when she got to the village gate as she had come from the right way to enter and she certainly hadn't passed by anyone else on the road.

Little did Minako know, that she was just a few steps behind a sobbing, traumatized medicine woman and a blood-splattered anti-religion freak.

* * *

_**Okay, I know this chapter relied pretty heavily on the geography of the Naruto world, but I promise that it's not as difficult as it all sounds. All you need to do is go to a search engine and type in Naruto geography and it should bring up three or four maps. The map Mina has is not a detailed one as it only depicts the really big countries like the Land of Fire/Konoha, and not any of the smaller ones. As such, on her map, where the Land of Fangs is between Takigakure and Otogakure would be there, there is a strip of land with no name on her map. Also, for STORY PURPOSES ONLY, I am placing Yugakure in the Land of Fangs because not only does it fit better with my story, the viewers are never told where exactly Yugakure is located at/in. Hidan is from Yugakure even though this is never mentioned in the manga, and only in the anime.**_

_**Don't mean to burst your bubble Mina-fans, but the POV will be shifting around for the next couple of chapters, but don't worry, this is still Mina's story. Ojii-san means grandfather or old man. Let's see, did I miss anything else?**_


	3. Ensnared

**_A/N: Chapter 3 begins with Hotaru's point of view, beginning from the time before Minako found Yugakure in ruins. We'll be switching perspectives fyi._**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Ensnared **

Hotaru breathed out a sigh, carefully tying the front belt of her priestess robe. True enough, she wasn't a full-fledged priestess and honestly had no intention of becoming one, but these clothes seemed to fit her best and worked well with her occupation as medicine woman of Yugakure. Hotaru glanced over her shoulder into the shadowy confines of her room. It was still dark as the sun had yet to rise, but she could have walked the entire town blindfolded had she been forced too. It made her wonder exactly how long she'd been here...after the Sailor Teleport, everyone and everything she knew just seemed to disappear and now, here she was.

Hotaru walked over to where her futon was carefully kept, a small closet, and pulled from within a bag. Upon arriving here, she'd tried to make a new life for herself. Of course, she'd tried many a time to contact the Inners, Outers, even the cats, but no one ever responded to her signal and the frequency was always flat; kind of like a cell phone with no bars. Eventually, she'd had no choice but to give up trying her communicator and had stashed it along with her henshin wand and clothes from her time away into this little closet. Maybe this was simply where she was meant to end her days. Who knew?

Never mind all that, her mind tried to tell her, there was work to be done and that was sure to take her mind off of things. Once the morning prayer was over, the shrine would need to be cleaned from top to bottom in time for the midday prayer, and then a little later the evening prayer would take place.

* * *

It all happened so quickly, she could barely even piece her thoughts together. She'd been in the Sacred Flame Altar Room trying to finish up the midday prayer when he'd barged in. Truthfully, she'd smelled blood before he even arrived, but thought her nose had simply caught a whiff of something bad. He was tall, much taller than her although that wasn't too great of a feat to accomplish in of itself. His features shadowed as he stood in the light of the doorway, it was almost as if time had frozen as he nonchalantly sauntered into the room. The man carried with him a gigantic, 3-bladed red scythe. It was blood-splattered, even more so than his personage. Hotaru shuddered as she felt his murderous intent fill the room with a suffocating power and she clutched at her chest. Oh no, he truly meant to kill her! There was no way she could fight back without her Glaive and to do that she'd need the power of Saturn. Too bad it was currently stuffed into a closet back in her room.

"What do you want?" she managed to stutter out, practically touching the altar with her back. If she could lead him into the room, there was a good chance she could try to get around him or at least try to duck from a swing of his scythe.

"So you're the last one..." he drawled out, it definitely not being a question. "You know, I think I might keep you alive. You seem useful." Hotaru's eyes scanned back and forth over the room, looking for weapon of some kind. Something in her gut told her that he was familiar although she definitely couldn't place him, especially since his face was still slightly shadowed, his empty eyes practically shining with blood-lust Before he could even take another step towards her, Hotaru bit back her tears, reaching her hands into the still burning embers and quickly threw them at his face.

He growled in pain, reeling backwards as he clutched at his eyes, furiously rubbing an arm across them to discard the embers. "You fucking bitch!" he roared, blindly swinging the 3-blade scythe directly at her as he did so. Hotaru screamed in panic, quickly assessing that going through the door was not an option and instead was forced to crawl behind the altar to avoid the slashes. She winced and covered her eyes, tears flowing freely now, the sound of metal on metal deafening within the small room. "You'll pay for that...aah, fucking whore..." he growled out, staggering over towards her, one still clutched in pain.

Hotaru yelped as he grabbed a hold of her arm, violently jerking her to feet. She fought back as best she could, but he was rather strong, and finally it resulted in her being dragged by the hair once he saw tugging at her arm was useless. As he pulled her hair harder, Hotaru screamed and flailed at the pain and uncertainty of what was going to happen to her. She barely noticed as the belt she had tied so carefully earlier snagged on the altar and pulled loose. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of looking at her body and quickly reached one hand down to close her robe back up.

As she bumped along the small staircase that lead up to the shrine, she felt something wet seep through her clothes. It was blood no doubt, and she let out another scream. Finally, he seemed to get tired of dragging her hair and let loose on his grip. She quickly saw a chance for escape but it and her hope quickly died out at the same time and he hooked the scythe to his back before grabbing her about the waist and flinging her over his shoulder.

"I figured you'd be light enough to carry." he laughed, now able to ignore the welts and heat coming off from his eyes...it was actually starting to feel better. See? She was already proving her worth. She gave a struggle, legs kicking and tiny arms pounding against his backside but to no avail, it just made him release more crazed laughter. That is, until one of her blows made contact with the back of his head, causing him to growl. He aptly returned the blow to the back of her head with much greater force despite the odd angle at which he held her. He knew she'd passed out by the stillness of her body, and with a shift of his shoulders, continued on his way out of the village.

* * *

Hotaru awoke with a throbbing pain in the back of her skull...ugh, it's where that strange man had clocked her after she'd hit him. She couldn't recognize her location immediately, but she could smell grass and dirt...safe to say she was outside then, possibly somewhere inside or a close to a forest? But how did she get here? Did that...that murderer decide to drop her off here for some reason? Did he think her dead...or maybe he planned to come back for her?

Hotaru found she could hear no voices, just the lonely chirp of a single bird overhead somewhere. But what if he was still around? She slowly cracked an eye open to look around...nothing that way but a dark forest of trees. She hazarded a quiet roll over, giving a fake groan to add to her overall sleeping facade. Again, she slowly opened her eye and scanned the area like before, just barely able to make out a shadowy outline near a low-burning fire. It had to be him...that tall, unmistakable figure had to him. You didn't just forget details about a person who was sure to kill you.

Still, he appeared immobile, asleep most like if the dimming of the fire was any indication. If she was really quiet, she could try to sneak away...but then what? Try to get help would be the obvious answer if they were dealing with an ordinary person here. She'd seen what he'd done to the village as he dragged her out of the temple. There was no way anyone could still have been alive after all that...and before she'd passed out, she even heard the cries of an unfortunate passerby being slain as well. Whoever this creep was, he was a maniac and a monster. All she had to do was quietly inch her way over, then she could stand up and make a run for it. Even if he did hear her and wake up, she'd have a nice head-start and since night had already begun to fall then it was super easy to lose him in the forest. Now, all she had to do was actually try to move...that was actually the hard part...

Hotaru wiggled over some, turning back over onto her other side so that her back faced him. Using her tiny feet and hands, she grabbed handfuls of grass and pulled herself along the brush of the Earth. By doing this slow movement, she risked only wasting time but that she could live with; it was much better than accidentally stepping on twigs and branches. When she could feel leaves between her fingers rather than grass, she knew she had only a little more to go...just a little more then she could stand up and run.

It happened quickly, she jumped to her feet and sprang forward. Forgetting her decency, she failed to close her robe as she ran...now was not the time to worry about someone seeing her half-naked. Of course she had no idea where she was running either, just running in a straight line to escape his grasp. Being lost in a forest was much better than being around this crazy man.

Her brain barely had to process the insane shrieking sound that met her ears before she slammed into something. Had she...had she hit a tree? An animal? She could have sworn there was nothing there a minute ago...no...her thoughts turned sour as she looked up to see what she had hit.

"We're not ready to leave, bitch, come on!" It was him, that...that...him. He reached down to grab one of her ankles as she quickly tried to recover from being stunned; she wouldn't let him take her away like this, not again!

"No!" she squealed, lifting her other leg in an attempt to kick him back, but he just as quickly grabbed her ankle, leaving her with both legs in the air.

"Why the fuck are you fighting me? I haven't done a damn thing to you yet!" he yelled down at her, his face still just barely visible in the darkness of the forest. If she had to guess, he was still covered in blood and looking a ghastly sight.

"That's what I'm afraid of! Please...just let me go...I just...I just want to go home." she pleaded with him, tears immediately pouring down her red-tinted cheek...why on Earth had she thrown her leg up at him like that. This position was...

"Tch, you wanna go back to that fucking...tourist site of a village? I'm hoping that shit has burnt to the ground by now. It's what they all get for being weak!"

"You're a monster..." she murmured, clenching her eyes tight and covering them with her hands. She couldn't bare to look at him anymore, not even caring that she had probably interrupted.

"Of course I am! I'm a shinobi. Shinobi are supposed to be ruthless killers. That entire village used to full of shinobi but they got weak and deserved to die." he seemed to explain, still tightly holding onto her ankles, it was the only way he could think of to keep her from running away from him again.

"Then why didn't you kill me too?" she cried out, preferring for him to go ahead and do so at this point...she'd become separated from her friends with no way back home and no way to get in contact with any of them. If she died then maybe...maybe she'd be reborn back in their world as a baby again. No...that was selfish. If the other senshi died then they couldn't come back unless Serenity used the Ginzuishou or Pluto allowed it with Serenity's permission.

He fell silent. Good question, but it was simple really. He had a kill quota, a certain number of victims that Jashin required of him to make each day just as he had a number of prayers to make too. He'd grown quite fond of his new found religion, the thought of it actually making a smile creep across his face...there really had been no other way for him. Why her though? It wasn't her per se, just the fact that she was a warm body. It would likely take him a day or two to make it to the next village, and since he'd gone overboard with his killings for his first sacrifice (just as the religion commanded he do), he hoped that this girl's death would at least tie Jashin over until then, after all, she was pure...probably had never killed a single thing in her life. Maybe the dark god had a preference for these kinds of sacrifices.

Hotaru shivered as she stared back up at her captor...he'd grown strangely quiet as he stared down at her; if she hadn't already been uncomfortable then she certainly was now. What was he thinking about? How to kill her most like, she decided and closed her eyes again.

"Because you're useful to me. Now get up...or do I have to drag your ass back?" he asked, pausing only to drop her legs back to the ground. Hotaru blinked, drawing her legs up closer to herself more on reflex than anything else...that was it? She'd mentally prepared for the worst and all he'd done was let her go? Well, she shouldn't have thought like that in the first place...she was barely 16 and not really...

She jumped to her feet, the man already a good bit ahead of her, "No." she stated simply, glaring at his backside.

"What was that?" he practically growled, casting a glance over his shoulder.

"I said no. There's no way I'd ever go anywhere with a...with a murderer like you."

Hotaru could feel the back of her head slam into a tree trunk, the full force of his body hitting her head on and thrusting her backwards. He held her arms over her head, her fingers just barely able to graze a low-hanging branch. "Fine bitch," he snarled, "you can just stay here for the rest of the night then." From somewhere, he produced a cloth strip, possibly something fashioned into a belt like the one she'd lost back at the temple. With lightning speed, he tied a thick, sturdy knot to encase both her hands overhead despite her struggling, screaming, and sobbing.

He laughed as he stepped back, seeming to enjoy his handiwork. "Hope you don't freeze to death," he joked as he turned to head back to the clearing where they'd started out at. She continued to struggle more all the while, doing her best to wriggle out of the knot, to somehow untie it, or possibly even break the branch. It was useless though and all she ended up doing was tiring herself out.

Why...why was this happening to her? What had she done to deserve this? She wanted to home right now, sitting in their living room with Harkua, Michiru, and Setsuna around her. She shivered as her head drooped downwards in a defeated manner; nighttime was here now in full force, the moonlight barely able to pierce through the branches of the trees. It was getting colder too and although her priestess robes had been sturdy, they just wouldn't protect her fully from the cold weather. She whimpered as her stomach began to growl...of course, she hadn't eaten anything all day either, it was no wonder she had no strength to fight against him. She could sense he was strong and that fighting back was probably pretty pointless...her henshin wand...by now it was probably nothing more than ash, however, she'd never tested its resilience. Perhaps it was just laying in a pile of ash. If she were lucky, someone might even find it and...she passed out.

* * *

"This is so awful..." Minako murmured as she continued to search through the contents of the burning wreckage of the temple. So far, she'd only found bodies but not a single one of them left alive. They'd all been killed in a very precise and consistent manner...almost as if the killer had practiced doing this task. It made her shudder to think about that.

This village was actually rather small despite its initial appearance, with the very end of the village being marked off by the temple. She thought some survivors might have fled here to hide and wait out the carnage. It was silly of her to think this might have all been done by one person...this was practically the feudal era so it might have even been a group of bandits or something riding by.

The temple itself had once been quite grand, not the steps anyhow since they definitely didn't compare to the ones back at Rei's temple. The inside had probably once been elaborate, but some over-turned torches had seen to that and had burned a good portion of the building. It wasn't impossible for her to practically walk through walls to get where she was going as they'd been busted down.

She headed over to what looked to be common quarters for the priests and priestesses, a place that hadn't seen too much damage. She hated the thought of rummaging through the items of the dead but there was something shiny that stuck out to her...Minako carefully made her way over fallen debris to get to it.

"This is..." Minako whispered sadly, bending on one knee to fish out the familiar object from where it had fallen in-between two floor boards. "Hotaru-chan..." Minako held out the purple henshin stick, still untouched from any destruction. It shimmered with an otherworldly sheen, a beautiful shade of amethyst purple. Minako held back the urge to cry as she held the stick to her chest...she and Hotaru had never been especially close, just good friends. But the idea of losing a friend, and one that was a senshi no less, was extremely painful...Hotaru was young too. She had her whole life ahead of her with a new, unpossessed body. It just wasn't fair.

And maybe, the thought that Hotaru hadn't been that far away was also another reason her chest was hurting. So...Hotaru had been brought here too...had they been brought here at the same time? Which one of them actually got here first? There was no way it couldn't have been Hotaru, their henshin wands had no equal. All this time and she never knew how close they were.

"I'm sorry Hotaru...the Sailor Senshi weren't here to back up you up this time but I swear...I'm gonna do all I can to find the others and get us back home." As long as Hotaru's henshin wand was still here, then she wasn't dead...not completely. They could easily bring her back with this. She carefully put the henshin wand into a pocket inside of her book bag She hoped that would be the only henshin wand she'd come across with no senshi attached with it. If Hotaru had been brought here, then surely some of the others must have fallen here too. True, she had her obligation to Yuki to do her job as she just couldn't bring herself to let anyone down but finding the senshi were her main priority now...she just had no idea where to start and night was beginning to fall fast.

* * *

Hotaru's eyes fluttered open weakly. It took a moment for her body to register everything around her and about her...her arms were strung up overhead like a piece of a meat, both limbs tingly from lack of blood flow. She was very cold still, the sun having only just come up, and she could feel her body shivering from it. She wanted to be warm, to just wrap her small body up inside of a giant blanket...she'd more than likely be sick after this. Damn him, she cursed weakly, finding her throat dry from lack of water too.

Hotaru's head slumped downward again. At the very least she could take comfort in the fact that the woods seemed to be devoid of life other than birds as nothing appeared to have messed with her. Her robes were still barely holding together and by looking down she could her tiny breasts poking out from fabric...she even surprised herself when she found she was no longer embarrassed by this. It didn't matter that she couldn't close her kimono-like top, there was only she and this murderer out here. He'd already seen her like this so what did it matter? Again, tears began to drip from her eyes...she just wanted to go home.

"Awesome, you're awake already..."

She didn't look up, not wanting to acknowledge the fact. She didn't want to see his face. It was disgusting...he disgusted her. She wouldn't give him the pleasure...her arms fell free, a simple pull from him on the knot and it was gone. Hotaru collapsed to her knees, practically face-planting in the cool leaf-bed at her feet, watching the binding that had held her arms trickle down to rest in front of her face.

"Hurry up, we're burning daylight here. It'll take us awhile to reach the next village and-HEY! I said get up!" he ordered, using his incredible strength to drag her onto her feet. Again, she refused to look at him and hung her head in silence, teary eyes cast downward at the ground. "That's how it's gonna be, huh?" he asked, irritable now. Forget this little slut, he didn't need her anyhow. All she was doing was slowing him down. If he had to keep waiting on her or carrying her around, he'd never make it to the next village in time, and he'd be damned if he'd fail Jashin this early on in the game. "Have it your way then." The man dropped her arm from his grip, causing her to slump back lifelessly to the earth, grabbing his 3-bladed scythe from behind his back as he did so. If she didn't want live a couple more hours then that was her problem, not his. With a grunt, he effortlessly lifted the weapon over his head and swiped it downward with the intention to cut rather than kill...maybe now he could try out that curse ritual technique that Jashin had promised him.

But his scythe missed her as she rolled out of the way, that piece of cloth held tightly in her hand. "Tch, see, I knew you just weren't gonna give up and die. Are you coming or not?" Was this the ultimatum? He seemed to await her response as he swung his weapon over his shoulder. Hotaru sat up slowly, contemplating about using the cloth strip to tie her robes up...then she thought of a better use for it.

"Just where are you planning to go? What will you do when you get there?" she asked flatly, failing to sound cold in her tone like she had wanted.

"That ain't your business, bitch, I do what I want. All you need to worry about is coming with me."

"If you plan to kill me then the least you could do is tell me what will become of things."

He paused, seeming to think this over for a moment as his mouth turned in confusion...okay, that seemed fair he supposed, "Simple, I'll head to the next village over and kill more people in the name of Jashin-sama. And you, lucky little you get to be one of my sacrifices. However, you still have a use to me right now so...you can live for now. If you promise to behave from now on-"

"I won't let you do that!" she yelled, charging at him with as much speed as she could muster from tiny, sore body. She had no idea where she'd found the strength, but she managed to tie that strip after his neck and pulled as tightly as she could. Her thoughts were rapidly flying through her head...she was killing a human...but he was an evil murderer...still this was murder too...but this was kill or be killed, it was self defense!

"What the hell are you doing? Is that supposed to hurt?"

Hotaru gasped, looking down at the body she was currently straddling and strangling. He had a silver eyebrow cocked up at her in confusion, his face showing no sign of reddening or swelling and his breathing hadn't changed even in the slightest. No...how was this even possible? The grip she went lax, letting the cloth fall from her hands. He laughed, "That's the most pathetic attempt to kill someone I've ever seen! Besides, I'm immortal, stupid." She was shell-shocked to say the least, barely even reacting as he sat up and brushed her to side as if she were a light feather. Immortal? It had to be some kind of trick. No one in this dimension should have that kind of power...right? Only she and Setsuna should have been-

"Now that we're done wasting time, let's get going. You don't want to stay here forever, do you?" She shook her head 'no'. At the very least, she might be able to keep him from killing anyone else even though he said he had plans to kill her. "The name's Hidan by the way." he informed her as she quietly began to tie her robes up with previously discarded cloth strip. She had to find a way to kill him, he couldn't be an immortal, there was just no way. Everyone had a weakness and she was gonna find it.

* * *

Minako held a hand to her head to block out the blaring sun...seriously, what was the deal with this country? The nights were freezing and the days were hot! She pulled out her map and compass and tried to make sense of where exactly she was. She was clearly far away from Sunagakure...and if she continued on this way, she would end up in Otogakure, then an unnamed gray country on the map, and then if she went farther, she'd end up in Kumogakure. Hmm...should she press her luck and go this way? Otogakure was a small village, maybe he was planning to hide out there...sound logic right?

It would probably take her another day of walking, maybe only half a day if she had a cart of some kind to ride. Besides, every day she wasted, that meant Kakuzu could be getting farther and farther away from her...assuming again, of course, that she was even going in the right direction. Man, this is exactly why they needed technology! A tracking device sounded pretty good right now. Come to think of it, she hadn't even seen any wanted posters of this guy...maybe he really had laid low for quite some time.

Another day...running wouldn't help her situation, it would just tire her out quicker. Man, this really stunk.

* * *

"Fuck...I knew I should have gotten a map or some shit...fuck, how much longer..." Hidan cursed under his breath, already dreading the idea of walking. The tinier girl who walked some feet behind him had been mostly silent, refusing to answer anything he asked her. He'd learned her name was Hotaru but that was about it. She definitely wasn't one for conversation.

"I don't know...I already told you that. I'm not from this area..." Hotaru murmured back under her own breath, seemingly picking up the habit of turning away from him whenever she spoke.

"Well isn't that just fucking wonderful?" Hidan growled, stuffing his hands into his pockets as they continued to walk. They'd been walking for the better half of a day, they should have been there by now dammit. He decided he'd keep her alive until after they reached a village but now that seemed like an awful idea.

"There's something on the horizon," she stated simply. It was quite obviously a town they were coming up on but there was no telling what actually awaited them there. She only hoped that she could somehow protect whoever it was he'd tried to kill. A little further ahead there was a signboard that read Otogakure. The village Hidden in Sound...she'd never heard of this place. In fact, she'd never heard of anything else outside of Yugakure, the village all she had known of her world since she'd arrived.

* * *

Well, she had been on her way, just minding her own business...that was of course until she came across a body literally lying in the middle of the road. After having seen so many dead bodies back at the village, Minako was still a little unnerved by the sight of it. It was still light out, so this guy seriously picked like the worst napping spot ever. Still, it wasn't like anyone had actively been going up and down this road or anything. Should she leave him there? Maybe try to pull him off to the side at least? It seemed the most decent thing to do in this situation...Minako decided she'd check for a heartbeat just in case...she couldn't stomach the thought of touching a dead body now.

She lay her ear to his back. Hmm...that was strange...either this guy had an irregular heartbeat or he was having a majorly bad nightmare...sounded like a million heartbeats all going on at once. Poor guy, Mina noted as she grabbed a hold of his shoulders and try to pull. She didn't get far before the fabric of his gray tank top slipped from her hands and she fell backwards...whoa, he was a lot heavier than he looked. Giving a slight grumble, she stood back up and dusted the back of her khaki-color shorts and readjusted her blue jean jacket that she had tied around her waist from the heat. That's just what happened when you tried to do something nice for somebody she supposed.

With any luck she could at least roll him over to look at him, that might even wake him up. Using all of her strength, she braced her boots against the ground and pushed him over, accidentally landing on top of his chest as she did so from the over-exertion of power.

"Whoospie," she giggled embarrassed, trying to brush it off in case he was coherent. She didn't want this guy getting the wrong idea, she told herself as she pulled herself back off of him. Almost immediately she fell back onto her butt...his face...it was like...and now that she looked down at his arms...they were...they looked like they were held together by thread. Wait a minute, she quickly pulled off her back-pack and pulled out the file she'd found on her desk the morning she'd left. Her crystal blue eyes stared long and hard at the picture before she hurriedly began to glance between him and the photo...hmmm...something did seem really familiar here.

The picture she held in her hand only showed the eyes of Kakuzu, red eyes with piercing green pupils in the center. His other features were hidden by some kind of mask, a special kind of headband apparently as a village symbol was still visible, the lower half of his mask was concealed by the same type of material. It was kind of like a ski-mask. This guy in front of her had no mask on and his eyes were closed...but something about his facial structure had her thinking otherwise.

"Guess there's only one way to find out..." Minako gulped as she put the file and picture back into her back-pack, unable to keep Shibuki's words out of her head. This guy was a for real heart-snatcher! He didn't just steal the crystallized forms of pure hearts, he actually ripped the very organ from your body! She grimaced, a blue line surfacing just above her nose...all she had to do was pull up one of his eyelids...no big deal...she could just take a quick peek and if it wasn't him then she could just go on her merry way and not worry about it. But what if it was him? What then? She couldn't call for help...she could certainly transform into Sailor Venus and hold her own but she definitely didn't want to be around when this guy decided he was hungry for another heart.

"Okay, okay!..." she seemed to pep-talk herself, slowly reaching forward. Just one quick peek, that's was all...Almost there, almost there and...

An olive-colored hand shot up and grabbed her wrist. He was awake, and his grip was nothing short of vice-like.

* * *

_**A/N: Wow, I haven't updated this one in forever. Found this chapter half written in one of my folders so apparently I tried to start it but just never got the urge to finish it. I should be more concerned about my finals but writing fanfiction helps me relieve stress lol.**_

_**So, I'm probably going to take the story in a different direction. The previous humor factor (if it was ever actually there) is going to be toned down bit. And since I don't see any notes about it I'm probably going to scrap the pairing of Rei and Itachi unless I really get some inspiration to write it. Sorry guys! I'll go back later and edit the previous chapters so it's not misleading. Also, I'm contemplating raising the rating for some naughty business I'd like to see happen but that's just me. The story is totally fine without it but...some input would be nice. What do you think? Reviews are much appreciated because I love talking to people.**_


End file.
